Quote Originally Posted by IRAWB
accastil I'd have a serious sort out of your front end electronics before pumping for an even MORE revealing set of loudspeakers.

IMO you need to take a very diifferent approach to hifi - that is: build a synergy.

Many hifi marques now build a complete solution, from CD to amp to speaker.
Most recommend at least to use a matching CD and amp.
Each company definitely has its own idea of sound and they don't all line up.
Putting this with that leads to verryy happhazard results.

Anyone who makes blanket statements about speakers doing this or that without taking into consideration the preceeding electronics has no idea what they're talking about.

A speaker cannot improve what has not come before it. That's impossible. The best a speaker can do is deal faithfully with the information it has been given, within its own limits.
Therefore any loss in an amp cannot be made good.
An amp's job is to deal faithfully with its signal, once again within its design limits.

So you go back to the source component, the first thing to deal with the source.
The game is won and lost here. Any loss here cannot be made good.
What's on a CD is all you get - no more, only LESS through LOSS.

You do yourself no favours by too good an amp on a poor source, and an even worse disservice by too good a speaker on a poor amp.

My point? Don't rush to blame the loudspeaker as they have THE LEAST effect on your sound.
I will respond to your points one by one in italics below with my take on things...

IMO you need to take a very diifferent approach to hifi - that is: build a synergy.

I agree, synergy is important.

Many hifi marques now build a complete solution, from CD to amp to speaker.
Most recommend at least to use a matching CD and amp.
Each company definitely has its own idea of sound and they don't all line up.
Putting this with that leads to verryy happhazard results.

Well, this certainly can be true, however buying all of your electronics from one brand or another may not maximize your results... To me, that is one of the primary benefits of separates... you can mix and match to optimize your results. That said, you have to make sure the mix works together well.

Anyone who makes blanket statements about speakers doing this or that without taking into consideration the preceeding electronics has no idea what they're talking about.

Not exactly... Measurements of the speakers can tell a good bit of the story. That said, if you mean the sound in a specific system without taking account of the other components, then I would generally agree (although I would have said it more tactfully). :-)

A speaker cannot improve what has not come before it. That's impossible. The best a speaker can do is deal faithfully with the information it has been given, within its own limits.
Therefore any loss in an amp cannot be made good.
An amp's job is to deal faithfully with its signal, once again within its design limits.

Agree.

My point? Don't rush to blame the loudspeaker as they have THE LEAST effect on your sound.

Absolutely disagree here. The speakers will have the most effect on the sound (well, the room plays a very large role too... maybe as much). It is true that a speaker cannot make up for a lousy front-end, but if the speakers are poor, who cares what the front-end sounds like unless you are going to listen with headphones? The differences on CD players and amps are much more subtle than ones on various speakers. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one...

---Dave